Claus Gustafsen's Modelbuilding

A series of pictures of an Revell P-40 Warhawk conversion and detailing.

Boxart from the two different editions I had at hand. The model dates from 1969 and therefor is not quite at level with the newer kits produced today, but it's still not a bad kit, all rudders and ailerons are seperate and can be positioned to make the model look "alive". Also the gear is made to be working - and option I didn't use! Surface detail is mostly of the raised varity mut not bad at all, se for your self.

Parts of the tail.

As I build in 1:32 scale only it isn't alvays easy to get all the different versions of a plane that one finds interesting, or one has two copies of the same kit and wishes to change something in order not to build two identical models "Just" with a different paintjob. I had two Revell P-40E's availabe, and I decided to change one into an Longtail F (F-5 to F-20), while using an Eduard PE set also.
The F version differs from the E by having an Packard V1650-1 (American build Rolls Royce Merlin 28) instead of the E's Allison V-1710. The F-5 is the first of a series of P-40's with longer tail in order to improve directional stability, so here's also som changes to add.
Some of the things I did was to move the air intake forward appr. 2 mm, and engrave new panel lines, change the arrangement with the wellknown three circular Coolers, to the less known with a rectangular cooler and a circular air intake, as a Merlin engine uses an updraught carburettor as opposed to the Allisons downdraught version. At the rear end of the intake one also have to make the duct that takes the air the rest of the way, seen as a bulge in the mddle of the cowling gills, that looks a little different because of it. This Merlin engine gave a bigger torque from the propellor and worsened the directional stabilitu especially on the ground, therefore it was especially the ruddercontrol that needed improvement, and in the Long Tail versions the rudder was moved 20 inches rearwards while some later versions enlarged the fin instead.
In order to have some further difference between the two models I used an Eduard PE set for one, or rather, that was the plan, but some parts became "extras" and were used for the other kit. The Eduard PE set adds some nice details for the cockpit, new sidewalls with some small electronic boxes (I recomend putting some styrene inside these boxes for gluing surfaces is otherwise scarse).
The instrument panel is the usual Eduard PE and film put together, I wanted to mount this on the original panel, and as there seems to be a little wiev to the rear of this, I drilled all the instruments out and glued in some pieces of plastic tubing to pretend being the rear of the instruments, added some wiring and guess what - It hardly shows.
The tail was cut of horisontically along the back till it meet a vertical cut just inboard of the hinge line, then sheet styrene and filler was used to move the tail 15,8 mm rearwards. To make a little more difference I also let one set of wheels remain with the "Hubcabs", while the other was changed to show the lightalloy wheels, this was done by using a spare set of whellhubs from the Hasegawa Hellcat, as this kit still contains the hubs for the rubber tires not suplied any longer. The mainwhell wells were fitte with PE, and they add nice detail that can be a little difficult to produce on your own, but also seldom is seen by anyone except the builder, but they also shield the view from the cockpit trough the wingroots and out the whell wells.
As the mainwheel wells were closed of I decided to also do so with the tailwhell well, a dividing wall with lightning holes were produced and added. All whellwell doors were detailed with the PE on the inside, actuallu you nearly ought to remove the original doors completely, but I only thinned them a little.
The gunbarrels were cut off and replaced with small tubing, just as the pitottube were replaced by thin tube.
The paint schemes chosen were a P-40E from the 23rd Pursuit Group that replaced the American Volunter Group, probably better known as the Flying Tigers. 23 PG recieved the planes left by the AVG, including some P-40E's in camouflage (USAAC version of RAF colours) and tigermouth, these were eventually replaced by new planes from USAAC stock in Olive Drab over Neutral Grey, just as some of the earlier ones presumably were resprayed, but I chose an early camouflaged one. The P-40F-20 I chose to paint as a plane used during operation Torch in North Africa. These were painted in Azure Blue undersurfaces and Middle Stone/Dark Earth uppers. The decals is a combination of the fuselage markings from the Airfix Spitfire Mk V used on the wings of this kit, and some old RAF roundels slightly larger than the fuselage markings. The only thing that lacks is the Stars and Stripes with 48 stars, but a picture from one of the carriers delivering these planes don't show all planes carrying the flag.

Pictures

The original Allison V-1710 engine and the retrofitted Rolls Royce Merlin